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Monday 24 February 2020 15:58
A car has been driven into members of the public at a carnival in Germany.
At least 15 people have been reported injured in the incident in Volkmarsen.
Police declined to say if was an accident or if the driver had deliberately rammed the car into the crowd.
Police in have told dpa news agency that it is not yet clear whether the driver had suffered some sort of a medical episode, if there was a mechanical problem with the car or whether the vehicle was intentionally driven into the crowd.
A spokesperson added that no deaths have been reported.
The force said in a tweet: “We know that there is a great desire for comprehensive information.
“However, we urge everyone who has pictures or videos from #Volkmarsen:
“Hold back on speculation; do not distribute any of these recordings.
“An information portal will be set up.”
The city fire inspector and several firefighters were reportedly already at the scene attending the carnival parade when the incident began.
Several cities in western Germany cancelled their traditional Carnival parades at short notice on Sunday because of inclement weather.
Volkmarsen, which has a population of 7,000, is east of Duesseldorf, near Kassel.
Here are some images taken as emergency services respond to the incident in Volkmarsen.
Images by: Elmar Schulten/Waldeckische Landeszeitung via Reuters.
Video from the scene showed a silver Mercedes station wagon with local licence plates and with its hazard lights blinking on the pavement, while emergency crews walked by.
The regional Frankfurter Rundschau newspaper reported that witnesses said the driver drove around a barrier blocking off traffic from the parade, but that it wasn’t yet clear whether he intentionally headed toward the crowd.
Volkmarsen is roughly in the middle of Germany – east of Cologne and south of Hanover. You can see its location here:
Police have urged people not to spread “unconfirmed reports” about the the incident, which happened early Monday afternoon.
Ten people were injured on Monday after a car ploughed into a carnival parade in the western German town of Volkmarsen, police said, adding that the driver had been arrested.
Police declined to say it was an accident or a deliberate attack. German media reported that children were among the injured and cited witnesses saying the driver appeared to have deliberately driven his car into the crowd.
The incident comes less than a week after a gunman gunned down 11 people, including himself, in one of the worst racist attacks in Germany since World War Two.
Germany.
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